The Moose came into today’s game riding a five game points streak (3-0-1-1) with a magic number sitting at five for them to clinch their spot in the Calder Cup playoffs.
Lineup news:
Leading scorer Alex Limoges joined Evan Polei and Wyatt Bongiovanni on the day-to-day list. Because of his absence the team went 11/7 for this afternoon’s game.
Moose lineup:
Malott – Toninato – Harkins
Jones – Maier – Reichel
Torgersson – Nikkanen –
Caron – Meireles – Boland
Heinola – Gawanke
Stewart – Lundmark
Sautner – Bauer
Oligny
Holm
Salminen
Notable:
Newly signed Parker Ford by the Jets to a two-year ELC (but joining the Moose on an ATO) is traveling to Manitoba today and is expected to join the team tomorrow.
The best chance of the opening period was gonna be this almost breakaway for Jeff Malott but the ref should have called a two minute penalty on himself for interreference.
A theme throughout the game would be Laval playing a very physical brand of hockey. They finished their checks.
Not something you see everyday was Ashton Sautner getting his skate blade blown off during a 5 on 4 Moose PK which made it a 5 on 3 for the Rocket and allowed them to take a 2-0 lead in the 2nd period.
After Kristian Reichel got high-sticked in the face resulting in a four minute Moose power play, Dominic Toninato got the home team on the board with his 17th goal of the season.
The Moose pulled Arvid Holm with three minutes left as they looked to cut the deficit to one but they were disjointed and it resulted in an empty net goal for the Rocket from 150 feet away to make it 4-1.
Pretty clear that the Moose tank was on empty despite a good start to the game. Playing a hectic two weeks on the road followed by a busy home schedule has caught up to this team.
The ending of the game could set up for an interesting re-match.
Manitoba drops to 34-20-5-4 on the season. Their magic number remains at 5.
Player media availability:
Coach media availability:
Highlights:
To follow
Up Next:
The Moose are off tomorrow as they rest up. They will have their re-match with the Rocket on Tuesday night. Puck drop is at 7 PM CDT.
